The Visitor
by Laura x Tennant
Summary: Someone who shouldn't arrives at the Hub one night, changing all their lives forever.   Starring the usual - Jack, Ianto, Tosh, Owen, Gwen, Rhys. Along with a special guest. Set mid series 2.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Blimey," she mutters, as she shakes away the time-and-space travel sickness. She stands up shakily and looks around her. "Seem to be in some sort of prison...woah! Look at you...ain't seen one of you in a while..." she continues, looking at the particular alien in front of her. She takes in her surroundings. Right: a series of cells, a couple of Weevils and a big 'T' sign on the door. Must be Torchwood.

"Perfect. Wonder which one..." she says to herself.

And she sets to work trying to unlock the door.

...

Ianto is making coffee when it happens.

The Hub gives a sudden shake and they all cling onto computer desks or chairs until the subsidence stops.

"What the hell was that?" exclaims Jack, running down the stairs from his office.

"I have no idea," answers Toshiko, "It's like there was an earthquake or something, but everything above us, on the surface, is fine. Normal."

"It was so strange; so sudden. Here I was, just looking up the Howard file when suddenly, _boom, _I'm thrown out of chair to halfway across the room," comments Gwen as she lifts herself up off the floor, rubbing her head.

"Everyone alright? Where's Ianto?" Jack asks. "Tosh, Gwen - you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine," replies Tosh.

"Gwen?"

"All fine here," she says.

"The doors have sealed. We're trapped inside here," says Owen as he runs up the ramp to where they're all standing. Then there's a rumble from deep within the Hub and the lights go out. "Oh great. Power's down. No lights. No computers. No way out."

"Fantastic," says Jack sarcastically. "What are we gonna do now?"

"Plug in the back up supply?" suggests Ianto, seemingly appearing from nowhere to switch the switch under Tosh's desk.

The lights flicker back on and the computers lurch to life.

"Ah. What would I do without you, eh?"

"I don't know, Jack. I really don't know. Coffee?"

"We still haven't worked out - " begins Owen.

"We have a visitor," interrupts Tosh, tapping into the CCTV. "Down by the cells. Whoever it is just unlocked the door."

"I wonder who it could be, to be able to teleport themselves into a very secure, secret, underground base...Wouldn't be John Hart again, by any chance?" offers Gwen sarcastically.

"No, no, it's not him. By the brief look I got of our intruder, I'd say she's a woman," says Tosh, raising her eyebrows.

"Ah, well that'll make it slightly harder when we have to kill her. And I bet she's blonde, as well," Owen says regretfully, earning severe looks from each of the team.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

She walks up the steps and stands still, her hands on her hips. "Hello?" she calls, "Anybody home?" Definitely Torchwood, she thinks, noting all the technology amongst the mess of paperwork, and the complete _absence_ of employees.

She hears a few pairs of footsteps. Here we go...

"Yep. Us," says Owen. Damn it, she _is_ blonde, he thinks to himself. With a very nice figure, he must say. He hopes she's nice and not trying to kill them.

The visitor remains where she is, but raises her hands up in the air as she hears the man behind her flick off the safety catch of his gun. She hears some more footsteps; heavy footsteps of a man.

"Huh, here we are!" A pause. "Hang on a sec – I'd know that excellent bottom anywhere!" Jack exclaims as he comes to stand next to Owen. Ianto raises an eyebrow.

She spins to face the voices quickly. "Jack? Oh my god!" she shouts joyfully, rushing down to hug him.

He lifts her up in his arms and twirls her around. "I can't believe you're here! What have you been doing? How'd you get here? He said you were trapped!" he exclaims in a rush, before setting her down.

She beams up at him. "I can't believe it either. And oh, you know, this and that. To your other question...it doesn't matter. But yeah, I was. You've seen him, then?"

Jack swallows thickly, looking into her eyes. "Yeah."

"Oh," she replies. Then she smiles her dazzling smile, and Jack can't resist.

He kisses her.

Rose pulls back as Ianto clears his throat.

"Sorry. It's been a while," Jack apologises.

"Not that he's _ever _done that before," she adds, still shocked by the impromptu snog.

"I'm sure," says Ianto, but he's smiling, so Jack knows he's forgiven.

"No, seriously, she's right. I never got a look in," replies Jack, winking at her cheekily.

"Aren't you going to introduce us then?" drops in Gwen. She gets the impression there's a lot of history and a very long story here, and they're all out of the loop.

"Oh, right, sorry. Um, this is my Torchwood team. Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato and Owen Harper..."

"_Doctor _Owen Harper," Owen cuts in. He grins at her and she bites her lip to keep from laughing.

"Yeah, Owen, I don't reckon she'd be impressed by that. So don't even think about it," Jack admonishes. Owen rolls his eyes but nods his head slightly in acknowledgement of his boss' warning.

"Lovely to meet all of you. I'm an old friend of Jack's," the woman says, shaking each of their hands and avoiding the issue of Owen sizing her up.

They all look at her warily. She's a complete stranger, and yet something about her seems...trustworthy?

Maybe it's just the fact that Jack seems to have such faith and awe in her very existence. Maybe it's the look in her eyes. They all quickly realise that this visitor is no threat; she's genuinely pleased to meet them all, and a certain look of sorrow combined with hope taints her gaze, contradicting her wide, happy smile.

Jack used to have that look, Ianto thinks; back before he disappeared for three months.

"What's your name?" inquires Tosh gently.

Jack beams at her, and puts his hand on the woman's shoulder. "This, my friends, is the one and only Miss Rose Tyler. And she's impossible, but very brilliant. So be nice." He winks at Rose, and she grabs his hand tightly.

"_Rose_..." Ianto murmurs softly.

"That's me."

"You're the one..._you're _the one. It's really you," he mutters, wandering over to his desk and opening some drawers frantically, shuffling through the carefully categorised folders and files.

They all watch him, bemused. Jack raises an eyebrow. "Ianto...what are you doing?"

"I'm just trying to find...aha! Here it is...bloody massive..." he mumbles, walking back over to them. "Rose Marion Tyler. I've read your file." He smiles at her and holds out the weighty folder.

"Her middle name's _Marion?" _Jack asks, shocked. Then he shakes his head and remembers the more important issue. "And she has a _file?" _

"Well, if you bothered to even read your own paperwork down in the archives, you'd know there was. It's very old, as well. Took me ages to get through it, there's so much stuff written about her," replies Ianto.

"I should hope so, too," chuckles Rose.

"But...but..." begins Jack, completely perplexed.

"To be honest, this shouldn't actually exist, Ianto. My mate Mickey wiped all traces of information about me off the internet years ago, precisely so that people like Torchwood wouldn't get hold of it," explains Rose, as she rifles through the large folder. "Oh, look at _that_..." she mumbles under her breath, wrinkling her nose up in distaste at an old photograph of herself.

"I know he did. That's why I assumed Jack compiled it, and hid it away down in the depths of the archives so well."

"Nope, wasn't me. But you say you found it hidden in the depths of the archives? I know you're efficient, but - " starts Jack.

" - How did I find it?" Ianto interrupts.

"Yeah..."

"I found it because I was looking for it. Well, not _it_ exactly; I didn't know there actually was a file about Rose, but I thought there must be something _somewhere. _So I looked. And I found..."

"Right," nods Jack, "Hang on, how did you know about Rose in the first place?"

Ianto looks at everyone else standing around briefly. Should he really say this in front of everyone? He doesn't think so.

"Ianto?" prompts Rose.

Oh, what the hell.

"You've mentioned her. Now and then. Not a lot, I'd say – ooh, seven times? Maybe eight – and you didn't even realise."

This news earns him a gentle smile from Rose. Jack's eyes widen, and he almost blushes. Almost.

Ianto continues, "So I did some digging and found out that this place: Torchwood Cardiff, descended from the Torchwood Institute, founded by Queen Victoria to keep the British Empire protected from alien phantasmagoria."

"Yeah, I know all that. Your point?" Jack asks impatiently.

"Well, Rose was there, she met her, and Queen Vic was so put out by the whole werewolf thing that she banished Rose, effectively exiling her from her own country in the century before she was even born."

"But that's impossible," comments Gwen. "How can she have met Queen Victoria? Don't talk daft, Ianto - "

"- It's true. It's all...very true. She was _not _amused..." replies Rose, giggling to herself while the others looked at her suspiciously.

"Werewolf?" Jack mutters sideways to her.

"Oh yes. Lots of fun," she says, and the memory of it all floods her mind. The memory of the travelling, the running, _him._ Her Doctor. And mistletoe in the wall. And the Doctor's tongue. And...well. Anyway.

Jack shakes his head at her, chuckling. Then he looks back at Ianto. "Question. Ianto, how the hell do you know all of this?"

"All in the file," Ianto replies, nodding towards the folder in Rose's hands.

She looks down at it again, flicking through. "Mmm...let's see... Dickens... rift... Bad Wolf... Sycorax... Hoix... Elton... Canary Wharf..." Her eyes glaze over slightly as she pauses on those last words, but she dismisses her self-pity when she notices that Ianto also flinched at the mention of that particular place. She clears her throat, "Everything's in here. Even our trip to Paris. Huh, how did they know about _that..." _she trails off and Jack raises an eyebrow.

That had been an adventure. A very pleasant adventure. With fireworks and stars and romance. Well, and a seven-foot tall lizard-creature with an eight-foot purple tongue that chased them up the Eiffel Tower. But, you know. Every candlelit picnic should end that way. It makes things more fun, less domestic. And he'd made it up to her afterwards, which was more than nice.

"Why, what happened in Paris?" asks Gwen, and Rose is startled out of another memory when she realises that there are people in the room. She blushes.

Jack notices this immediately. "Yeah...I'm thinking I need to know all the details, Rosie. Spill."

"Oh no. You really, really wouldn't," Rose smirks. "And anyway, it's _nothing_ like that..." Jack looks about ready to contest this but she speaks again before he can. "Haha, look at this, Jack! Remember that day?" she laughs.

Jack looks over her shoulder. "Oh, yes. Boy did we cause some trouble..."

Owen clears his throat to try to get a word in. "Look. This is lovely – sweet reunions and sexy memories and all that, but _please_ can someone tell me what the bloody hell is going on?"

Rose looks genuinely apologetic. "Sorry. Owen, wasn't it?" He nods, and her gorgeous smile immediately makes him forgive her. "Well. Basically, I have no idea who made this file – seriously, not a clue. But that's irrelevant. For now, anyway. The big question is - "

" - How did you get here if you're supposed to be trapped in a parallel universe?" Jack interrupts. He sits down on the table next to her and waits for reply. It doesn't come. Instead, she averts her eyes from his and her shoulders tense up. "Rose?" he prompts, his voice soft, and it occurs to the team that they've never seen their boss act this way before. Add that to the fact that apparently this woman has arrived in their Hub from a parallel universe...well. Let's just say they are all very confused.

"I..." Rose begins. Then she takes a deep breath and turns to look at her old friend. "I don't really know."

"Rose..." Jack says warningly. He can tell she's lying.

She knows he knows she's lying, so she decides to give in. She stands up and begins pacing back and forth in front of them, raising her voice so that they can all hear her explanation. "Right. Okay. So I get stuck in another World, right? Same but different. Another Earth. One where there's a President of the UK instead of a Prime Minister, where it's WestEnders that's on TV, and where James Bond is a real spy, not just some fictional character..."

At this last point, Ianto quirks his lips in fascination and resists the urge to ask some questions about this guy.

"...Anyway. It's the same but different. You get the picture. So there I am, in the parallel Torchwood, doing some parallel bloody paperwork, when a parallel Toshiko Sato comes in to tell me she's worked it out."

Tosh, who had been silent throughout most of the conversation so far, gasps. "You know me? A um...parallel me?"

Rose looks at her warmly. "Yeah. Quite well, actually. In fact, you're probably the best friend I have there. Apart from Mickey, of course. But anyway - I didn't know whether to tell you or not, but I got a bit of a shock when I saw you just then. And as for _you..." _Rose adds, looking Gwen in the eye. "You look very suspiciously like someone I met in _this _world. Cardiff. Christmas time. Couple of centuries ago. You look very like your great-great-great-great –etc - aunt Gwyneth, Gwen."

Owen can't help but feel left out. Why couldn't she have met a version of _him, _or his great grandfather or something?

Gwen's eyes widen in surprise. Then she looks at her sceptically. "A couple of centuries back?" she echoes disbelievingly. "You're barely what...twenty-five?"

Rose shrugs her shoulders, her eyes twinkling. "Time's relative," she replies, and Jack grins at her. "Anyway, parallel Tosh comes in and tells me she's worked out a way for me to hop from one universe to another."

"It's impossible," puts in Jack. "He said it was. And he _loves _impossible."

"Who's this 'he' you keep talking about?" asks Owen, but his question is ignored.

"Yeah. But you know as well as I do, Jack. Nothing's impossible. Not really. Not if you want it hard enough." She tilts her head slightly, biting her lip to stop her voice breaking. "Just a bit unlikely," she adds with a small, humourless laugh.

Jack looks at her, and decides that it's been far too long since he last held her. He takes a few steps forward and she leans in to his embrace. "I'm okay," she mutters into his neck as he holds her close. "Think all the tears have been used up, to be honest. Anyway, I learnt to be strong, rather than wallow. Wallowing didn't do me much good for those first couple of months. I just..._sat _there. Useless. Then I came to my senses. Decided I couldn't just hang around and wait for him to come and get me. Threw myself into work, to try and figure out a way for _me _to get back to _him."_

"Oh, Rose," he murmurs, tears in his own eyes. He looks over her shoulder at Ianto, a silent request in his gaze.

Ianto takes the hint. "Come on, you lot. We should get all the alerts back online in case something happens with the Rift."

Tosh, Owen and Gwen all nod warily. It's odd, this situation. None of them know quite what to say or do to make this any better or easier for the obviously emotional woman that's just popped into their lives. From the minute she'd arrived, Rose had been cheerful and trusting, but they knew now that her happiness was somewhat restricted. Whoever it was she was talking about, he'd obviously been special to her. And each of the three of them knows what filling a hole in a heart with something that isn't quite the same feels like.

For Owen, he attempted to move on from his almost-wife Katie by sleeping with anyone who'd let him. For Tosh, not being able to show Owen how much she loved him led her to the arms of people like Mary, who was somewhat evil, and Tommy, who was wonderful but not the quite the right man holding her close to his body. And she'd lost both of them too. For Gwen, she'd thought she was happy and content with Rhys until she met Jack. And then she had thought she was missing something. But Jack never kissed her, and Owen did, and so she embarked on her affair. And when that fizzled out she knew she'd made a terrible mistake, because it was only Rhys who could fill that hole in her heart; the one that she had imagined in the first place. That had made her feel so guilty.

As for Ianto, for him it was different. Losing Lisa was so hard, and so painful. He really loved her, and wanted to do everything he could to keep her alive. That's what love is, right? So when she died, he thought everything was so incredibly unfair, and he felt so lonely and empty. And yet now...somehow, being with Jack...he's the happiest he's ever been. He supposes he might have fallen for him. Which is odd. Because he certainly wasn't gay before he met him. It's only him. Only Jack.

And Jack. Sure, he had slept around a lot in the last few centuries (well, fine, all his life) but that was all an attempt to forget the pain of losing his family, his brother...all his friends...then the Doctor and Rose...then all the other people he's cared about ever since. But he knows, deep down, that Ianto is incredibly important to him. And when he's gone, and Jack lives...his heart might finally break for good. He's not sure anyone can heal him after that. He knows he's got at least _that _in common with the Doctor. They both shut themselves away from love, but then someone came along for each of them; to open their eyes and show them how to _live._

And so, the team leaps into action, knowing that it is Jack's comfort Rose needs now, without an audience.

"Well, while you sort that out, I'll try and find out what that Naomi bird wanted. She's been calling us for ages, going on about some alien device she's found," calls Owen as he grabs his jacket and heads for the door. He nods his goodbye, accompanied with a wink, to Rose, but blatantly ignores everyone else rolling their eyes at him.

"I'll go make some hot coffee. Would you like one, Rose?" Ianto asks, just as Jack is leading her up the stairs to his office where they can talk in private for a bit. Ianto can tell that Rose – despite all her happy smiles and her genuinely wanting to tell them all about what she's been through - is exhausted. Travelling through space must take it of you, he thinks dryly.

Rose looks down at him and gives him a sheepish smile. "Um, is it alright if a have some tea instead? Could murder a cuppa right now..."she asks.

He smiles back. "Of course. One tea, coming right up. Milk and sugar?"

"Oh, yes please. Lots and lots, too," she replies.

"Sugar addict, this one," puts in Jack, nudging her with his elbow playfully. "You certainly picked up some bad habits, travelling with him."

"As if you didn't," Rose scoffs, her cheerful demeanour back in place. She follows him into his office and sits cross-legged in his chair without another word. He watches her, leaning against his desk in front of her, waiting for her to begin when she's good and ready.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

After a few minutes of just looking at each other, Jack coughs and says encouragingly, "Well?"

"Oh. Right. Yeah, sorry, I was just..." she gestures to her head with her hands. "...thinking. You've changed."

"So have you," he replies, looking her up and down appreciatively, taking in her blue jacket, tight top and even tighter trousers. "Even more of a gorgeous young woman now, aren't you? Very stylish. No Nonsense. I like it." he grins. "So would he," he adds.

She tuts mockingly. Then, "You look older," she says.

"So do you," he counters.

"Well. All this dimension hopping is rather exhausting. No matter what you say about being gorgeous, I reckon I look a bit crap right now, really."

"You don't," he insists. "I don't think you do. And neither did Owen or Ianto from the look of their drooling faces."

"They weren't _drooling," _she sighs dramatically.

"They so were. And I used to think I had competition before. Now I have two more men to try and put you off of."

"Nah, not really, though. I mean, Owen won't want me. At least, he won't after I've had a nice little chat with him to stop being so bloody ignorant about how much in love with him Tosh is."

"You didn't mention anything about a parallel Owen," Jack says, surprised.

"That's 'cause I haven't seen one."

"Then what do you..."

"It's obvious. I was with your lot barely half an hour and I can tell that Tosh loves Owen, but Owen's too stubborn to allow anything to happen – preferring to go out and have one-night stands 'cause he thinks he's not worthy enough for a proper relationship. My bet is he's cocked relationships up a lot in his life, or maybe he lost someone he really loved in the past."

"Right, on all counts. You been taking psychology lessons or something?" he asks her, bemused.

She ignores his question and carries on. "And as for Ianto...well done Jack, is all I can say," she tells him, winking.

"What? How did you...?"

"You're not the most subtle man in the World, Jack. I can see how you look at him. It makes me feel rather proud, actually, to see my Jack all settled down..." she says, smiling cheekily with her tongue poking out between her teeth. Oh, how Jack had missed that smile.

"Settled...? What are you going on about?" he exclaims. He's rather shocked. Ianto and him, they are just...they aren't exactly serious, or exclusive or anything. Sure, he's not had sex with anyone else since getting with him, but just because he finds it quite easy to be monogamous with Ianto doesn't mean he like..._loves _him or something...

...oh, who's he kidding? Rose raises her eyebrow at him, and he knows she's right. Is he really that obvious?

"You love him. Don't waste it. Don't ruin it, Jack. You don't know how much time you have with him, especially in this job. Don't waste time. Seriously," she instructs him, and as much as her words sound sombre, she's smiling as she says it, and he smiles back.

"I won't. But don't you dare tell him!" he commands, and wonders why she starts giggling.

"Tell who what?"comes a voice from the door. A welsh voice. A very sexy Welsh voice, belonging to a very sexy Welshman.

Jack jumps in surprise. "Ianto Jones, when are you going to quit creeping up and scaring the living daylights out of me?" he questions.

"When you stop enjoying it, Sir," Ianto replies, chuckling. "So...am I allowed to know who you were talking about just then?"

"No!" says Jack.

"Yes," says Rose at exactly the same time.

Jack shoots her a warning glare. She thinks for a moment. She's not sure how long she's going to be here before she gets commanded back to her Torchwood. But she knows she has work to do right here and now. Before she saves the universe, Rose Tyler needs to do some meddling in her new friends' love lives.

She promptly ignores Jack's request.

"You," she says simply, her eyes lighting up when Ianto blushes slightly.

"Ah. Thought so," he murmurs, handing over her tea and Jack's coffee. And then, to Jack and Rose's surprise, he continues, "Well. I'll let you get back to that then."

They watch in confusion as Ianto leaves the room. Rose bites her lip thoughtfully. "Hmmm. I wonder how much of our conversation he heard before he came in here?" she ponders aloud, before taking a sip of her tea. Then, seeing Jack's face pale in anxiety, she laughs. "He totally feels the same," she tells him. "Don't worry. Now you can stop wasting time."

"You're such a minx, Rose Tyler!" Jack informs her with a wagging finger. He stops chuckling and folds his arms defensively when she stares at him blankly, a glazed looking crossing her face. He reckons someone else has said that sentence before, and she's currently remembering it. "Rose?" he prompts.

"Hmmm? Oh right. Yeah, where were we?"

"Well, we _were_ talking about how you got here, but then we suddenly got all analytical about feelings and shit and that has probably actually traumatised me more than anything I've ever experienced. And I've experienced _a lot,_" he smirks.

She laughs then, genuinely. "Sorry. Okay. So my team and I - "

"Your team?" he repeats, and sounds surprised.

"Yeah. I know. Stupid, eh? As if I could be a proper boss. I don't even register that they are talking to me when they say 'ma-am' and all that. I've told them – I've insisted, time and time again – it's Rose. Rose. Just Rose. Not 'Miss Tyler', not 'boss' and most definitely not 'ma-am.' But do they listen? No. Which is completely ironic, because surely, if they consider me to be in charge of them, they should follow all my orders, right? It's so stupid. But, because I've been out there, seen all that stuff, they automatically assume I know everything. Which I don't. Well, I know quite a bit actually, I think I might me downplaying myself here. But still. Me? In charge of a team? Doing _paperwork? _And to think, I used to work in shop. I've not even got any A-levels! But I suppose in this job, it's more experience that matters. And that I've got by the bucket-load. And at least I am able to get hold of all the stuff I...wait. You're staring at me weirdly. What's wrong?"

Jack laughs. "Rose. You haven't paused for breath. You remind me of...well. Of him."

A flicker of confusion is expressed in her features. "Really?" she asks, wrinkling her nose.

"Really. You've taken to, dare I say it, _rambling."_

"Oh no. Oh no. That's it. This gets even stupider. How rubbish is that? Stuck on a parallel Earth with paperwork and Weevils without him, and I start to sound like him. Bet it's my stupid bloody subconscious trying to wind me up again. Shitty thing, the subconscious, you know that? Yeah, course you do."

"Well. You haven't got quite the advanced vocabulary as he has, I'll give you that," he says, giving her a cheeky wink.

"I just...oh. It's so frustrating. I..." she says, and then her voice catches, "I miss him, Jack."

Jack has his arms around her again in an instant. "I know. I know. But it'll get easier. It will. I promise you it will. He wants you to have a fantastic life, Rose, and you can make that for yourself, with or without him. Don't waste - "

She pulls back to look at him. " – wait," she interrupts. "You think I came all this way just to stay on Earth? Live a normal life here, instead of with Mum and that on parallel Earth? No. No way. I'm gonna get back to him."

He hates to say this, but she needs to know. "Rose...it might be...you might have to wait a long time. I had to live through centuries before I saw him again," he tells her, gripping her shoulders tightly. "Is he really wor - "

" - An old friend of his once told me that he was," she interrupts before he can finish saying the words, "She said that some things are worth getting your heart broken for. And she was right, Jack. You know that. Especially now, what with Ianto and the others..."

He nods. She's right. One day, Ianto and Gwen and Tosh and Owen will die, and he'll have to deal with that somehow while he'll live on forever. And Rose is nothing if not stubborn. She'll get back to the Doctor, and she'll hang on to him for as long as she can. He knows she will.

And just like that, Jack has a brilliant idea.

"Oh my god! I can't believe I didn't _think_...I'm so stupid! Rose!" he exclaims, shaking her shoulders excitedly.

She beams at him. "What? What is it?"

"I can try and get hold of Martha, and she can call him, and then he'll come right back here, and you can fly off into the stars for your happy ever after, all thanks to me and my connections, of course, and then he can tell you he - "

Rose bites her lip. "You can't. He can't come here. Not yet."

Jack looks at her sharply. "What? You want him back, don't you? You came all this way to find him? You've torn holes in the fabric of reality to get back here!"

"Well, yes. But I'm not that selfish, Jack."

"I don't understand," he admits, deflating.

"I never finished my story, did I? Tosh – my Tosh – she figured out how to manipulate these...alien devices and stuff. And then her and her brilliant colleagues – my team, don't you know," she adds, smiling proudly (completely contradicting her earlier sentiment towards having a team), "Created a...thing. And, with the additional help of UNIT, here I am."

"A...thing?"

"A...a dimension canon. Basically, someone back on the parallel world activates it, setting the coordinates, and shoots me into another dimension; another world. Then, I connect back to them using this super-advanced Bluetooth-like device, letting them know whether the coordinates were right, and then they pull me back when they - " she explains, pauses slightly to shift in the chair.

" - Aren't right?" he finishes.

"Yes. You see, it's not perfect. I've been travelling to lots of different parallel worlds – twelve altogether, I think. Never the right place. This is the first time I've got here, the real world. My world. I knew that straight away when I saw you, Jack – you being here is one of a kind. But, although this is the right place, it's not the right time."

"No? How can you tell?" he asks curiously.

She bites her lip, worried that if she says something too explicit, something might happen in the time-space continuum or whatever that could fracture reality. She settles for a fairly enigmatic, "You're not scared."

"Excuse me?" he asks, thoroughly confused.

She sighs, resigning herself to telling him more. "If this was the right time, you, and all your team, would be scared. Sad, even. People would've died, and you would be upset about that, Jack. Everything would be in a panic - you wouldn't have spent all this time talking to me without letting me know about what's going on up there," she says, pointing towards the roof of the Hub, and consequently, the city of Cardiff above them.

"What's happening, Rose?" he asks, sounding more vulnerable than she's ever heard him, panicked at her words.

"Doesn't matter."

"Yes it does! Tell me. What's going on? What's going to happen in our future? Rose?"

"You can't know. Not yet. You don't need to know. You don't need to worry."

"Worry? You just said people are going to die! You said I'd be scared – and I don't get scared very often. Right now, that's making me worry. So tell me, Rose. What's happening?"

"Something's coming," she whispers, averting her eyes to study the floor.

"What?"

"From across the stars. Something's coming, and we can't stop it."

Jack cups his hands to cradle her face, bringing her eyes up to meet his gaze. "Rose. What is it?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry Jack. I don't know what it is, but something's coming, here; there, everywhere. And the stars are going out. Parallel Earth is a bit ahead of this world. It's already starting there. And on so many other Earths – death. Destruction. The things I've seen ...it's...it's hard, watching all that...not being able to help, watching people d - " she breaks off, swallowing thickly to try and dislodge the lump in her throat.

"You're so young," Jack murmurs, shaking his head ruefully. "You shouldn't have to see all that death. You've seen too much."

She raises her chin a little in defiance. "No. I've seen too much _alone_. I needed to get back to this world. To find him. He's the only one who can _stop_ all this."

"Is that why you were able to come back, though? Is this like..."

"...weakening the walls of reality? Yeah. The dimension canon only started working once the walls between the worlds began to break down. So you see, Jack, I'm not tearing holes in the fabric of reality...I'm merely...jumping through them. Taking the opportunity. And not for me, either. I didn't do this for me, I did this to save the universe. Every universe," she says nodding her head decisively.

He gives her a look.

"Well. Okay. Maybe I did do this for me, a little. I need to find him so that he can help us sort this out, but I guess I thought, once this is all over...let's just say, I don't want to go back. I _really _can't face the paperwork."

Jack laughs at this. Then he takes her hands in his. "You love him so much, don't you," he states simply.

She looks at him, startled, and then her face finally relaxes into a smile. "I do, yeah. I really, really do. And believe me, I really want you to bring him here right here, right now, so I can tell him so. But we've got to wait for the right time. Otherwise..." she pauses for a moment, thinking. "_Para_dox," she continues, and she says the word in a singsong voice, trying to make the conversation less...heavy.

He murmurs his agreement and presses a kiss to her forehead.

Then Rose remembers something Jack mentioned earlier. Or rather, some_one_.

"Hang on. Who's _Martha?_" she asks, her tone anxious and her brow crinkled.

_- TBC -_


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Ah," says Jack. Where does he go from here, exactly?

Rose knows what he's trying to figure out how to say, though. She can tell from his expression. She spares him the worry. "She travels with him, right? She's his new..." she trails off, unable to think of the correct word. "Friend," she settles for, somewhat uneasily.

"She did. Not anymore, though. She works for UNIT now."

"Oh?" replies Rose, "Good is she?"

Jack smiles at Rose's attempt to sound polite. He knows this must be killing her, thinking he'd moved on. Without her.

"Yeah. She saved the World, Rose," he says, because he can't deny it, can he? Martha is more than good. She's his friend. But he knows Rose will think that she's been replaced, and she'll probably feel jealous...

"Good. I'm glad he found someone," Rose says, nodding, and Jack is shocked to hear that she means it. "But not anymore? Who's he with now?"

"I'm not sure. I had an adventure – a long, terrible adventure – with them both, after which I came back to Iant – the team." Rose smirks at his self-correction. "And then, Martha called me to say that he'd got her a job at UNIT once she decided to stay here on Earth instead of travelling with him."

"Oh. But...why would she give it up, though?" Rose questions curiously. She knew firsthand how hard it is to get back into normal life after travelling with the Doctor. Sarah-Jane had been so incredibly right about that.

"Because...well. I think – now don't take this the wrong way, Rose – but it was because of you, really."

"What do you mean? She's never met me." She thinks for a moment. "Has she?"

"No. But the Doctor has."

She looks at Jack strangely. "Yeah..."

"She was living in your shadow, Rose. She fell in love with him, like you did, but he never even looked at her. He liked her, but that was it. She told me how he'd go on about you. She was so jealous of you, when she knew she shouldn't be, because you couldn't be with him anymore, and he wanted you to be with him, so, so much."

Rose feels her jealousy be slowly replaced by guilt. She feels so sorry for Martha. And she is also completely shell-shocked. "He...talked about me?"

Jack snorts. "Of course he did! He was so lost without you. Actually, I have this sneaky suspicion that I caught him talking to you, once. Not you, obviously, not really; but an imaginary you. I think he pretended you were there with him, talking to him. He was chuckling to himself and everything, like he was imagining what you would say. It would've been really quite adorably cute, if it wasn't so heartbreaking," he tells her, and his own voices hitches as he speaks.

Rose gasps in shock at his words. She can't believe it. He'd never spoke to her about his past companions; never even mentioned Sarah-Jane before she met her. And there he was, telling poor Martha all about her.

"What, you expected him to forget about you as soon as you weren't there? Move on? He didn't even want anyone to travel with him anymore, Rose. But he did something...and this woman – Donna, he said her name was - stopped him from..." he trails off, unable to meet Rose's eyes.

Realisation dawns on Rose at the haunted look on her friend's face. "He was going to give up?" she says, disbelievingly, her voice rising in volume. "Just like that? What the f - "

"Do you really not realise how much you meant to him? He was going to tell you, he said. He knew you already knew anyway, but he insisted he would've told you, if he hadn't been cut off."

"He told you about that?" she whispers, voice cracking under the heavy weight of emotion.

Jack nods. "Anyway, this Donna told him he needed someone – she didn't want to go with him, though, apparently. He ignored her advice for ages, though. It was months before he could even come back to Earth. And he said that there are still about eighty-seven other planets he can't visit anymore, because the memories...hurt too much." Jack knows somewhere inside his mind that he probably shouldn't be telling her all this stuff. He's hurting her, he knows that, but he can't shake the feeling that she needs to know just what the Doctor was like without her.

To his surprise, Rose chuckles. "You know, at least half of those planets _neither _of us can visit ever again, due to the fact that we were banned for...well. Doing stuff we weren't supposed to," she says, and Jack waggles his eyebrows.

"Oh yeah?" he replies, glad to see she's a least trying to keep upbeat.

"Yep," she replies.

"Like what?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," she teases.

"Yes, I would. I missed all the good stuff. Back when he was big-ears it was all intense looks and unresolved sexual tension between the two of you. By the point the sexytime came along, I was gone."

She scoffs, rolling her eyes. "'Sexytime?' Haha! _As if!_" she denies, giggling.

"And you know what he said to me once, when you were in the shower?"

She frowns. "Do I wanna know?" she asks.

"All I did was politely ask if maybe, just once, I could join in. And he was all 'nah, Jack. It's better with two.' I mean, how insulting! And what a tease, too! Making me think I was missing out when you hadn't even done that yet. I'll have you know that - "

" - It is though. It's better with two. That's why this Donna girl wanted him to find someone. She could see that he needed someone. He's so much better when he's showing someone the great wonders of the universe he holds the key to," she says softly, seriously, and Jack knows that now...now they are talking about the Doctor's life.

"No. It's better with _you," _Jack says before he can stop himself.

She rolls her eyes.

"Seriously, Rose. I mean, you're right, he does need someone. But that someone wasn't Donna, and it wasn't really Martha. And it wasn't me, either. He needs _you, _Rose Tyler. That's precisely the reason Martha left; she couldn't replace you, however much she wanted to. It might seem unlikely to you, because he's what, like nearly 1000 years old? So you'd think, he must've felt like this before, don't you? But he hasn't. At least, not this much. He'll never get over you."

She bites her lip and snuggles into Jack's side as he brings his arms around her. A few tears trickle down from her eyes but she refuses to acknowledge they are there. Jack rubs her arm affectionately and continues to whisper in her ear.

"He thought it would be easier, knowing that you were alive and living a life day after day rather than being dead. But he said..."

"What? What did he say?" Rose mumbles into his chest when Jack is silent for a few moments.

Jack clears his throat. "He said that he knew it was selfish, but he hated the thought that you were going to be happy without him, with the life he could never give you – the husband, the children, the house and the dog."

Rose sits up. "How could he say that? How can he even _think_ that? I never wanted that life! I'd never want that life, not unless it's with him. I've tried to forget how wonderful he is, but I can't Jack..."

"I know, honey, I know," Jack murmurs soothingly.

"I always dream about him. Every night. I tried not to sleep at first, because it hurt too much to dream, but after about two days of that nonsense I decided that I _wanted_ to sleep - all the time, so that I _could _dream about him. It's the only time I get to be with him, and I..." she pauses, taking a deep breath. "I don't think I'll ever move on. Remembering all that...I mean, I wouldn't have missed it for the world, and I know that it's better to have loved and lost than never love at all, and I know how disappointed and guilty he felt when Sarah-Jane said that she never married because he was such a hard act to follow, but you know what? She was so right, and she never even touched the surface with him. I could never be with anyone else. Never."

Jack strokes her hair as she tries to control her breathing.

"I think about him all the time, Jack, I really do. All I have to do is see a bloody banana, or a jar of marmalade and I lapse into this trance-like state of remembering, and - "

Jack grins at her.

"Oi! Don't look at me like _that_, we didn't use flipping fruitand marmalade like, inappropriately or something_, _Jack, it's just what he used to like to eat." He nods, and she continues. "It's funny how food can be so...I dunno, sentimental? Like, I haven't eaten chips since I've been away from him. I'm that sad, it's ridiculous!" she laughs softly, but her eyes say everything. "And then there's stuff like certain words - I'll hear the word 'brilliant' or someone saying something at 100 miles an hour and I'll think 'stop it, you're not him' like he owns the words or something. It's really, really stupid. But I can't help it. I'm not..." she stops, her words had been coming out disjointed as she tried to hold back her sobs, but she can't stop herself anymore.

Jack can't bear to see her like this, but he doubts she's had the chance to let all this out properly before, with Mickey or her mum, so he knows he needs to listen and comfort her.

Beginning to cry properly, but still attempting to ignore it, she carries on, sniffing constantly. "I saw what Torchwood does, all that violence and stuff, and I refused to take part in it. I try to negotiate, try to 'evoke peace' or whatever, because I know he wouldn't want me to be like that – he tried to stop _you _being like that. So I tried to live life best I could, but I never got properly settled, because I knew that one day, I'd get back to him. I'm not...I'm not _happy_, Jack. I pretend I am doing okay for Mum, but I'm not. I feel...hollow. It hurts, right here," she says, holding one hand to her chest, and the other to her stomach, trying to stop it quivering. "It hurts, Jack," she repeats.

"I know Rose. It's hurting him too."

"All I need is that daft old alien's hand back in mine and I'll be happy. I'm not happy without him. I'm not anything. My hand has never felt so empty," she says, looking at her hand as if she's not quite sure what to make of it; like it's not supposed to be there. "And I don't care if he never says it again, or never even feels it, because this feeling I have, this love I have for that stupid, _stupid_ man is enough for both of us and I'll be happy enough to just be with him and I can't move on, Jack, I can't, I just...can't."

Jack pulls her closer, and squeezes her to him, comforting her in the only way he knows how.

"You love him so much, and you have so much faith in him. But Rose, why have you never been able to recognise just how much he loves you?"

She looks up at him, her nose running, mascara smudged across her face, and she opens her mouth to respond, but the words don't come out. She heaves in an exhausted breath, and swallows thickly. "Because he never told me," she finally manages.

"But you knew, right? You know?"

She sniffs, and Jack doesn't stop her when she starts wiping her face with his shirt-sleeve. "Yeah. I wondered...for ages, I didn't know. But then...well. He couldn't hide it that well. I knew there were moments when he almost said it, but like, caught himself at the last minute and said something else instead. He was such a coward," she chuckles, "It was actually quite endearing. But yeah. Of course I knew." She pauses, remembering all those happy times...the times before Canary Wharf and the Battle and her heart breaking. All those times he hugged her, or simply _looked _at her with such love and affection and pride in his eyes. All those times that he had her hand to hold. "Oh, of course I knew," she smiles.

"Then that's all that matters."

"It'd still be nice to hear it though. That day, on the beach in Norway – it was the worst day of my life. And I couldn't even kiss him goodbye. And then...he ran out of time, and he never - "

"- finished his sentence."

"Exactly," Rose smiles wearily.

"So what happens now? Shouldn't you be contacting your Torchwood or UNIT or whatever to let them know you're in the wrong time?"

Rose hesitates. "I suppose so," she says in the end, very reluctantly. "I just...seeing you again, Jack – I don't want to leave." She sighs to herself for a moment. "But then again, universes to save and all that, so..."

"Do you ever wish that you could go back to living your normal life, before you got caught up in all of this...this..."

"Alien stuff?" Rose replies, smirking.

"Yeah."

"Never."

"Really? But think about it – you could be young and free and single, and yet you've got the worries of the world, _all _worlds, on your shoulders..."

"I wouldn't want to go back, Jack. I'd be nothing without all this. Even without the Doctor, I can recognise that I am something now. If I hadn't met him that day, I'd still be working in a shop, living on the estate, going nowhere with my life. At least now I have a purpose. And a chance."

"A chance?"

"A chance. A chance to get back to someone I really love, rather than moping around full of regrets."

"Yeah. I know what you mean."

"But..."

"What?"

"I don't want to go."

"Then, don't. Stay here, until the times match up."

"Well..."

"Rose..." he begins, thinking. "The date..."

Rose turns to where Jack's pointing to a calendar behind them. "Ah," she whispers.

"What? What is it? How long until...?"

She swallows thickly. "I don't know if I should tell you. But...well, it's soon."

"Soon? How soon?"

"Very soon. And I have got some things I need to do here, so...and if I go back, there's no guarantee I'm going to get back to the right time and place anyway, so..."

"So you can stay? Fight it with us, together?" Jack asks hopefully.

"He must be coming here sooner or later, so I'll stay until I can trace the TARDIS. Then I'll go find her, and her annoying pilot, and he'll save everyone," Rose decides, with a definitive nod of her head.

"Okay, good plan. So, how long?" he asks innocently.

She looks at him gravely. "I can't say..."

"Rose. Please. How long?"

Rose grabs his hands in hers and squeezes them tightly. "You can't tell them. Any of them. Not even Ianto. Tell them, and they'll panic, and then they'll be of no use at all. So don't tell them anything."

Jacks nods. "Deal."

She swallows thickly. "Six and a half months, and this world matches the date when things started to go horribly, horribly wrong in Pete's World. Of course, it might not work out the same, but...well, the sooner I can find the Doctor, the better really, so it's a much better idea that I stay in the place he is most likely visit – 21st century Britain."

"Right. Wow. Okay. And you have no idea what it is – the thing bringing the darkness?"

She grins wolfishly. "No idea!" she cries cheerfully, and Jack shakes his head in part-amusement, part-horror at her flippancy over the fact that she has no clue what sort of enemy they'll be facing_. She's just like the Doctor_, he thinks. "But we'll be ready. And that's all that matters," Rose finishes, in a much lower, more serious voice. He sees the defiance in her eyes and knows she means it.


End file.
